36 replies to this topic

[RC Pilot Jim]

Yes Alan. That is reason I will be taking my portable panel on "engine off" trips lasting more than 2 nights.

[ntsqd]

It's been a while since I went thru the process, but setting what is "100%" for the tri-metric's assessment of what is a full SoC wasn't difficult or ambiguous. I do not feel that it is a guess or a false number. The issue is that as the battery(ies) age what is a "100%" SoC will slowly drop. So eventually it will be erroneous and I'll need to dig out the manual and reset it. That should be pretty obvious when the SoC display starts to consistently show something less than 100%

 

Frankly that worries me less than noting that when we've been power hogs the SoC is rarely below 97% in the morning. I'm concerned that I'm not cycling the batteries enough.

[RC Pilot Jim]

Field Report

Last weekend in October we attended the SoCal owners Rally in San Clemente, Calif. Camper battery ran the Refer, interior light and Fantastic fan. The roof top solar panel maintained 94% battery full by sunset dropping to 87% at 6 am overnight. Sun comes up. Solar runs REFER and charges battery back to about 94%. Going down the road with the alternator in the "Bully or control" position battery climbed to 98%.

 

We brought the 60 watt portable....Left it in the truck.

 

The big test is our semi-annual trip to the Saline Valley which this year is Nov 10th - Returning the 18th. 

[RC Pilot Jim]

Field Report
Nov 2014
Camped engine off 7 days Saline Valley. Air Temp High 40's to mid 80's. Cloudless sky. Camper in full sun all day. Used the fan, LED lights, charged the IPAD and plane batteries.

Trimetric - ;percent of full reading - range 87% morning to 98% when sunset behind the mountains at 4 pm. Time in shade 14.5 hours. Sunrise 6:30 am

We brought the 60 watt portable....Left it in the truck. 100 watt roof panel more than up to the task of running the refer and charging the batteries.


ice cubes stored in 1 QT container in fridge (39*) lasted 6-1/2 days - new record.

Edited by RC Pilot Jim, 21 January 2015 - 04:08 PM.

[RC Pilot Jim]

Field Report

April 3rd

 

This past week the rig has been parked under the carport. After 6 days Trimetric showed a drop in percentage of full to 83%.

Digital voltage reading 12.4 volts.

 

Since solar panel is blocked from the sun I plugged in the "shell-shore power". Checked Trimetric at 7:30 am this morning...Percentage of charge back up to 97%. Digital voltage reading 13.6 (maximum output for my small 1.5 amp charger-maintainer).

 

Its nice to have a battery monitor and digital voltmeter with easy to read red characters.

Edited by RC Pilot Jim, 03 April 2015 - 09:44 PM.

[Marco Cecala]

RC Pilot Jim;

 

I have found the perfect combination of ambient temperature and sun angle can really skew the numbers. Just got off the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and had great numbers.

 

My unofficial results...Cool temps are better for charging as well as less refridgerator compressor time. When the panels are warmer the voltage drops siginificantly. I have Global Solar panels which are direct glue.

 

Nothing can compete with a charging shot from shore power!

Edited by Marco Cecala, 04 May 2015 - 12:59 AM.

[RC Pilot Jim]

Wednesday night we returned from a 3 week trip on the East coast. The rig sat in the carport while we were gone with nothing charging the battery.

 

Readings (AGM battery):

      Voltage 12.5

      Percent of full  73%

 

Since 12.9 volts is full. 12.5 is 97% of full. I went on the Bogart Engineering website to review the Q and A answers and there was no mention of my question. I didn't call them yet. I was curious if anyone of the users have ever seen the percent full that low when the voltage is that high?

[pvstoy]

It sat for three weeks and what draw was on the system during that time? lp alarms etc? The shunt and meter measures how much goes out and in. The meter it's self has a small draw. To me that sounds reasonable if you had low draw over time.

[RC Pilot Jim]

Patrick,

Thanks for your input.

I turned off the Trimetric and the separate digital volt meter which each draw point one amps and the master switch.before leaving. We have the shell model so don't have any alarms.

Battery cables attached so it does lose voltage over time.

[pvstoy]

So for the three weeks the trimetric was removed from seeing the battery or just the screen display was turned off? If the screen is off only there is still a slight draw to keep the meter going and memory retained within. If power was severed from meter to battery then you'll need to reprogram the meter and set the 100 percent charge level again.